I'll bet one of your greatest challenges is keeping your board or commission members motivated and informed. I know it was for me when I was a planning director in Massachusetts. Constant board turnover and changes in planning practice make this a perpetual headache. Why not let the American Planning Association help?

APA Welcomes Planning Officials

Enrolling your planning officials as APA members is the best place to start. Planning commissioner members pay about one-third of regular APA dues and receive extra services — such as specialized training organized by local chapters and The Commissioner newsletter — in addition to all the standard member benefits. Please take a few minutes to consider the advantages APA offers your planning officials and share the enclosed materials with them.

Local Training Is an Affordable Timesaver

By far, the most valuable service APA offers you and your planning officials is first-rate training. Why is it so worthwhile? For one thing, it saves you time. For another, your local chapter has the expertise to organize training that is sensitive to your state's laws and regulations. Your planning officials will learn exactly what they need to know about community planning — at an affordable price and close to home.

Here's yet another advantage to APA-sponsored training for planning officials: they'll hear about fresh ideas and innovative solutions that have succeeded in other communities. You'll find it easier to convince them to try a new approach if they know it's already worked someplace else.

National Resources Add Value

APA's own Planning Commissioners Service (PCS) is your national training resource. Our annual series of audio conferences brings focused discussions on current planning topics, followed by audience questions and expert answers, right into your office. Each one is a unique opportunity for your officials to get together and talk about planning, removed from the pressure of meetings driven by controversial local agendas.

At APA's annual national conference, PCS conducts sessions and mobile workshops for both new and experienced planning officials. And PCS has produced training materials that you can use over and over as the composition of your board or commission changes.

Special Offer — Send Planning to Your Mayor!

We believe that every member of your board or commission will benefit from belonging to APA. As an added incentive, we will give your mayor or city manager a free one-year subscription to Planning magazine if five or more of your planning officials join now. Planning will grab your chief executive's attention every month with lively stories about innovative, real-world solutions to municipal planning problems. Planning will amplify your voice — the planner's voice — at city hall.

We've made it possible for the whole board or commission to join using the enclosed membership application, and easy for you to manage multiple memberships later. We'll send your agency only one invoice, but mail publications and other materials directly to the individuals you identify. Send the application in today and let APA help you and your planning officials make your community great!

Sincerely,

William R. Klein, AICP Director of Research

P.S. Remember, we'll send Planning to your mayor for a year — absolutely free — if five or more members of your planning board join APA! See the enclosed application for details about this special offer.